Kessel and the Maple Leafs did something Monday night the team had managed only once before – rack up 60-plus shots in a game. And they still lost.

Despite tripling the Islanders in shots on goal the Toronto Maple Leafs lose the New York Islanders 4-3 in overtime. (November 23, 2009)

By:MARK ZWOLINSKISPORTS REPORTER, Published on Tue Nov 24 2009

Phil Kessel kept saying "unbelievable."

He had good reason.

Kessel and the Maple Leafs did something Monday night the team had managed only once before – rack up 60-plus shots in a game.

And they still lost.

Despite outshooting the New York Islanders 61-21, and playing nearly the entire third period in the opposition's end, the Leafs lost 4-3 in overtime.

One broken play in the extra frame – Ian White passed to Tomas Kaberle, who chose to let the puck pass by him along the boards – ruined the entire night as Josh Bailey, off a feed from Sean Bergenheim, had a wide-open net to shoot at for the game-winner.

But for the Leafs, the bad news didn't stop there. Both John Mitchell and goalie Vesa Toskala suffered injuries, with Mitchell's looking like a long-term affair.

"We have to wait for the MRI (Tuesday), but it looks like a while," Leafs coach Ron Wilson said, referring to what could be a serious knee injury for Mitchell. "I won't speculate until we get the MRI results.

"It was a freaky injury. John went to hit (Kyle Okposo) and he missed ... his leg whipped around and hit the boards. We'll review our options and go from there."

Those options fall directly with the Marlies, whose best performers at the moment are Christian Hanson, Ryan Hamilton and Alex Foster (who was named AHL player of the week Monday).

Toskala was booed for allowing three goals on seven shots in the second period, but it turned out he had tweaked a groin muscle injury that kept him out of games earlier this season.

"It's just a little tweak," Toskala said after the game. "I hope it doesn't take that long."

Wilson said the Leafs would have Marlies goaltender Joey MacDonald at practice with the NHL team on Tuesday. MacDonald will remain with the Leafs until Toskala is healthy.

Toskala said he felt the tweak after the Islanders' second goal, a tip-in on a shot from the point by Matt Moulson.

He'd been beaten by Jeff Tambellini on a breakaway just over a minute earlier, and when he surrendered a goal on a soft wrist shot by Bergenheim, an Air Canada Centre crowd fed up with similar displays this season erupted in boos.

Toskala, during a TV timeout, told Wilson the tweak was bothering him. Wilson managed to get him out of the game after Kessel's goal at 15:32 of the second period.

"I asked him if he could finish the period," Wilson said, not wanting to throw Jonas Gustavsson into the fray with no warmup. "But he said he couldn't."

Kessel got the Leafs back on track with his sixth goal of the season off a wonderful setup from Matt Stajan late in the second period.

Toronto poured everything it had at Roloson in the third and completed a deserved comeback on goals from Wayne Primeau and Niklas Hagman.

The shots kept coming, and the Leafs' total of 61 into overtime matched a club record set on Feb. 25, 1976, against Detroit.

The Leafs won that game 8-0, but on Monday night, the numbers just didn't add up.

"I don't know what to say. Sixty shots, I don't remember a game like that. Unbelievable," Kessel said, adding the phrase "Holy cow" when asked about Roloson.

"We kept battling and pushing. It's unfortunate we didn't get the result, but we have a better hockey club than our record shows."

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